Ties of Friendship, Love and Hate
by Windesque
Summary: 100 themes challenge. Oneshots not related to each other. Chapter 3: Shikamaru contemplates about Ino, the light of his life. Onesided Shika/Ino.
1. Introduction

_A/N: I've taken up the 100 themes challenge. They may or may not be in order, but frankly, who cares? This is short, and, to be honest, quite crappy. Team 10 friendship._

**Fanfic Title:** Introductions  
**Prompt:** 1/100: Introduction  
**Summary:** Asuma makes his students introduce themselves.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**~O~**  
"OK. I suppose we're going to have to start with introductions about ourselves, alright?" said Sarutobi Asuma, his cigarette moving up and down as he spoke. "OK. Name, one like, one dislike, a hobby and a dream that you have. Starting from the right. You with the pineapple," he nodded to a boy who had his eyes half-closed. "Start."

The boy looked up and sighed. "Why? We already know everything about each other."

The girl nodded. "Yep. We're the second generation of the Ino-Shika-Chou formation, and we are so totally going to beat our dads at it!" she grinned, punching her arm in the air.

The chubby boy who had been constantly eating paused and nodded. "Yeah. We will."

Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Ino-Shika-Chou formation?" he asked, frowning slightly. The name was slightly familiar yet he couldn't quite place it.

"You haven't heard of it?" asked the girl, looking at him incredulously, as though he had just explained a lifelong addiction to unfashionable attire. "Seriously? They're Jounins as well."

Asuma rested his back onto the railings and looked at the team. They were most definitely weird, that was sure. But somehow…they were vaguely interesting as well. The loudmouthed pretty blonde, the lazy looking pony tailed boy and the one who hadn't stopped eating yet. "Jounins? What are their names?"

The girl instantly answered. It was obvious that she was the leader of this group, and the boys seemed willing to let it stay that way, without much argument. "My dad is Yamanaka Inoichi, his," she pointed at the one who was eating, "is Akimichi Chouza, and lazy ass's is Nara Shikaku."

Asuma's eyebrows rose slightly. "So, you're _their_ kids then? So, you're going to have to do a lot to live up to their expectations, then, huh?"

"No," the one with the ponytail said, obviously deeming this important enough to talk. "They're them. We're us. We're the new Ino-Shika-Chou, so we're going to do it differently. We are not them."

"Yes…but, even if you three know each other, however, I do not know you, and it's the same vice-versa. Name, one like, one dislike, a hobby, a dream, the way you fight, and one fact in general. Shall I start? My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like smoking. I dislike it when my family tell me to stop. My hobby is playing Go." He noticed that the one with the pony tail open his eyes properly and look at him closely. He mentally congratulated himself at the fact that he had got him interested. "My dream is to…well…maybe have a family? I do fire and water elemental techniques and I use special weapons that were made for me."

"By who?" the blonde kunoichi's face was instantly alight with the hint of gossip. "Do we know him?"

"Third Hokage. I'm related to him after all," Asuma shrugged, hiding his pride. "And that's my fact. Now, you, the girl. Start."

"My name is Yamanaka Ino. I like…a lot of things, such as clothes, make up, hair, jewellery, Sasuke and flowers. Not in that order. I dislike Haruno Sakura, when Shika's being lazy and when Chouji won't stop eating. My hobby is to collect and arrange flowers. My dream is…well, I think that's private. I fight using mind techniques, like all my clan do. My fact is that I bought us these earrings," she flicked one of her earrings, and Asuma glanced at the others. They were wearing earrings as well.

"Good. Next," he said, pointing at the one who was eating. They were close, he could see that. Hopefully, their teamwork wouldn't need much practice.

"My name is Akimichi Chouji. I like barbecue chips and meat. I dislike it when people call me fat, because I'm actually just chubby. My hobby is eating, my dream is to…I don't know. I fight using techniques to do with the body. One fact is that…Shika was my first friend."

Asuma raised an eyebrow. He had definitely been given an interesting group. "And pineapple boy."

The boy, who had been staring at the sky looked at the jounin. "Geez. My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like clouds. I dislike things that are troublesome, women and troublesome women. My hobby is watching the clouds. My dream is to live a normal life. I fight using shadow techniques. My fact is that I like to play Go."

Asuma stood up properly and regarded the three genin. "Well…I have to be honest. I like you guys. Train hard, play hard, and we'll get along fine."

"Tch. Yeah," sighed the Nara. "You think that we're troublesome. We think that this whole thing is troublesome. Some of us didn't even want to be here."

"Well, maybe you do think that. And maybe I do think that. Well…before we start training, why not I take you down to get some barbecue? And then we can help Ino pick flowers and I'll play Go with you, old man."

The team mostly scowled at his sarcasm, but they were happy. They had close to the best sensei in their opinion.  
**~O~O~**  
_A/N: Done. Review?_


	2. Love

Second one! That's good progress :)  
So, yes.  
**Theme: **Love  
**Pairing:** Neji/Tenten

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

~O~  
Hyuuga Neji stood in front of the Hyuuga complex, waiting patiently for his female team mate to arrive, so that they could begin training for the day. He stood with his arms folded, leaning against the door, patient as ever.

"Neji!" came the voice that he had been longing to here. He opened his eyes and started to walk forward, frowning as she stopped and spun around, heading in the direction of the training fields.

_Normally_, Tenten would wait.

_Normally_, Neji would catch up with her.

_Normally_, they would walk together, talking about anything that came to mind.

_Normally_, they would get jumped upon by Rock Lee and Maito Guy.

_Normally_, they would ignore them and then train in the far corner.

But this didn't seem to be a normal day. Firstly, Tenten seemed to be fuming about something. Her usual calm and pleasant manner seemed to be displaced by an evil aura. Neji caught up with her and stared at her whilst they continued to walk. "Tenten?"

She turned to stare at him. "_What_, Hyuuga?" Tenten didn't snap. Tenten was ever calm, ever patient, the lodestone of Team Gai. She was the one that calmed everyone down, the one that managed to stop Lee and Gai's antics and the only one who could make Neji talk for all he was worth, smile and act like pretty much every other shinobi in the leaf.

She didn't snap. And she most definitely did not glare at him as though she wanted him to drop dead. At the moment, Neji would rather face countless hordes of enemy ninja and then a thousand years trapped inside a cage than face Tenten now.

"What's the matter?" he asked, half-hoping she would laugh and yell "April's fool!" although it was still only January.

"Nothing. At least, nothing to do with you," she snapped once again, nose in the air and flounced ahead of him.

He should run. He should tell her now that he had an important meeting with a Hyuuga elder, and then make up a name. He should claim to be ill. He should insist on training with Gai and Lee. He should scream. He should instantly run away and find a nice quiet corner to cower in.

But, being Hyuuga Neji, he refused to listen to common sense. He refused to back down to his friend. He was going to get to the bottom of this, whatever it took. And, if that meant his life, then so be it. He opened his mouth to start an interrogation that would put Ibiki to shame, but was cut off.

"Can you _believe _that he would say that? How bloody _dare _he say that! I was going to rip him apart if Hinata and Ino hadn't stopped me," she half-growled, fingering a kunai as though the _he_ she was talking about would appear in front of her.

_He._ So, it was a him. The only males that Tenten was friends with were the males in what was left of the Genin 9. So, that would be Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Kiba or Lee.

He could cross Shikamaru and Chouji out. They had spent enough time with Ino to know that hurting a girl's feelings was one thing they should only do if they had a death pact. Especially if that girl happened to be a weapons mistress.

It wouldn't be Shino. Shino would never do something like that.

Lee could never annoy Tenten to the brink of her threatening to murder him, no matter how much he, Neji, strayed close to the brink, and sometimes beyond.

So there was only Kiba left. However, a doubt lingered at the back of his mind. Kiba was close friends with Hinata, and, although he teased her, he knew how girls became narked easily. No matter his brash exterior, he was kind-hearted. Very, very deep down inside.

Whoever it was, he was going to murder them.

"Who?"

"It wasn't even me who started it!" she protested, as though he had been accusing her of something. "I was just walking with the others, and then he was stalking us-"

"_Stalking_?" Neji boggled, staring at her.

"Exactly! And then we went to that little place that does ramen, you know, Ichiraku's? And the others all went somewhere, and made these really lame excuses, and I was the only one left, then the guy, he comes up to me, right, and he starts chatting me up!"

"He _what_?" Neji snapped. The boy was dead meat now. He would rip him up and then punch him into next week. How dare he! Tenten was _his _friend, not a random person that didn't even know her!

"And he was just so…wow. I mean…he was so…sweet, and cute and _gorgeous _and stuff, so I let him, and I kind of flirted back a little…"

Neji switched off there and then. No matter how good a friend Tenten was, he could not and _would _not listen to her talking about a male like that. It wasn't that he liked her in any way or anything, it was simply because he was concerned that the guy would end up breaking her heart. Nothing more. At least, he tried to assure himself.

"And then he kissed me, and I didn't stop him-"

"WHAT?" Neji snapped, his neck almost falling off as he turned to look at her abruptly.

No…Neji Hyuuga was jealous, and it was not a pleasant feeling. He would kill that person.

"Exactly! And I was screaming at myself inside but I just…went with the flow and stuff and so….that was it. And then we stopped, and we started talking, and he asked me if I was apprenticed to anything, and I said I was a kunoichi and he just gave me this _look_, one that said 'the hell?' all over, and he said, he said "ninja can't love!" And then he ran off like that! And now.." she trailed off, staring at the ground miserably. She was doubting herself, that much was obvious. He sighed, and stopped. It wouldn't matter now, not here. They had reached the training grounds, far from the eyes of anybody else.

Still…he might regret this.

He touched her shoulder, and she turned around with a slightly questioning gaze at him. He brushed a finger down her cheeks and smiled. "Well…ninja _can _love. Because if I can manage it…you can too. Even if the person you love doesn't love you back…there's still the fact that you can love. And…I love you."

She didn't say anything. When he had touched her shoulder, her heart had skyrocketed to a beat she didn't know it could manage. Her eyes widened as she stared at him, in shock.

Neji smiled ruefully. He turned his back on her. "Like I said…the fact that you can love is the important thing."

Suddenly, she was standing in front of him, a shy smile on her face. She leant up and kissed him quickly on the lips, blushing profusely.

Neji smiled, as he wrapped his arms around her. No. He definitely didn't regret this.  
**~O~O~**


	3. Light

_A/N: OK.....this may seem slightly confusing. Hell, I confused myself whilst writing this. But, hey, who cares. I seriously couldn't think of anything for this theme. I mean, seriously, light? What else was I supposed to do?  
Put in some Shika/Ino love, of course :p  
So, yes. Shika loves Ino. He doesn't admit it of course, and she isn't actually directly in this, I suppose. But, hey, who cares? I don't, for one :)_

_And thank you to those people that put this on story alert. :) A bit more reviews, maybe?_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, characters, or places mentioned in here. They all belong to Masashi Kishimato. I only own the story.

**Theme: Light**

**~O~**

Shikamaru always seemed to hate girls. They were loud, obnoxious, rude and troublesome. There was only one girl he liked more than any other. He couldn't stand Sakura, who annoyed him with reasons he couldn't fathom, and Temari, who was far too badass for his liking. Tenten he could stand. She was good kunoichi, calm and determined. Hinata, he could stand.

But he liked Ino more than anything else. It was sometimes referred to as love, by Chouji and the original Ino-Shika-Chou formation, including the wives.

Shikamaru didn't call it love. He would call it anything but.

She was loud, rude, obnoxious, temperamental, hypocritical, scheming, manipulative and troublesome.

He hated it when she lied about something. He would open his mouth to contradict her, but the pleading look that she gave him was enough to make his heart beat faster, enough to silence him.

He hated it when she badmouthed about their friends. Although deep down he knew that she loved her friends to bits, there were times when it was hard to convince himself of that when she was in a mood. He would try and fob her off with something, and she would look at him sternly. He'd nod and stay silent, wondering whether she ever talked about him like that.

He hated it when she was rude to other people. He hated it when she lost her temper. He hated it when she ragged him about being lazy, or Chouji for being fat. He hated it when she told everybody the latest rumours she heard. He hated it when she convinced Chouji to do something, then reward him with chips. He hated it when she stuffed herself, then berated Chouji about it.

He hated himself most for hating her.

She was always there for him, supporting him, guiding him. She would be the first to smile when he accomplished yet _another _mission, or had mastered yet _another _technique, or had successfully pulled off yet _another _strategy.

Her smile was amazing. It managed to brighten up his day, no matter what had happened. Sometimes he'd come back to the village from a long and tiring mission, sweaty and dirty. Instead of going to the Hokage Tower, he would seek her out, on a pretence. She would see him and smile, no matter what happened. The smile. That smile.

The only smile he could think about. The smile that made his heart jolt. The one that could make his heart beat faster. The one, he assumed, would eventually make his heart stop at the sheer beauty.

The smile that would make him drop everything, be it chores, cloud-watching or meetings with the Hokage to run to her side. The smile that made him want to leave the village, just to get away from the beautiful smile, that he knew would never be his.

To get away from the girl he knew would never be his.

She was beautiful, radiant, funny, strong, charming, confident. Everything that any guy would look for in a girl. And most of the male population in Konoha drooled over the blonde kunoichi, from shinobi to civilians. Everybody had their eyes on her, and she refused to even spare them a glance.

She was pale, her long blonde hair shining in the light, her sky-blue eyes sparkling. She instantly brightened up a room by entering.

She was his light and his best friend. Whenever there was training, she would wake him up. He'd open his eyes to the light, but the early morning sun dimmed in comparison to the Yamanaka. She would smile at him, force him to wake up. He would complain and moan, yes, but there was something about her that made him want to get up in the morning, just to spend some time alone with her.

Of course, they would then leave for to collect Chouji, but he liked to think of it as _their _time. His and Ino's.

He loved the way that it sounded. His and Ino. Mine and Ino. Shikamaru and Ino. The Nara boy and the Yamanka girl. The deer and the pig. Shikamaru and Ino.

It would never be like that. They were best friends, and nothing more.

She was his light. No matter how much he wished her to be more than a friend, the statement would always be that.

He looked down at the white, slightly glowing flower in his hand. He smiled as he placed it in front of her bedroom door, and turned around smiling.

Shikamaru didn't call it love. He would call it anything but. Still, he loved her, no matter how much he might deny it to his close friends and family.

She would always be his light.  
**~O~O~**_A/N: So. I think that was OK?  
And, since the next one is Dark, I'm trying to think of a way to put some Shika/Ino in that as well. :p_


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